Overview

If nobody is listening, how do they know what you want from them? As a character unable to communicate through conventional means, players have to use their imagination in order to talk to the living. Utilising a variety of interesting interactions, Nobody's Listening provides an interesting and detailed look at life without verbal communication.

Narrative

The core of Nobody's Listening is the narrative component. As a character stuck between the land of the living and the world of the dead, players are unable to directly communicate with the NPCs within the game. As a result, players are only able to manipulate non-living objects in a way that other characters would find 'believable'. For example, a floating note would cause a character to faint and the puzzle to reset. However, writing a note and leaving it on a table, then making something fall over near the table would cause the character to 'discover' it. Getting NPCs to complete these tasks allows the main character to 'right' the 'wrongs' that they have previously committed. Appearing to be involved in these resolutions is a core component of the game; the entire reason that the player character remains in limbo is to accomplish these objectives.

Core Mechanics

Within Nobody's Listening, the mechanic of 'noticing' interactions within the world is the key to accomplishing objectives. As players accomplish these objectives, more and more complex and interesting objectives are available for the player to complete. As the player completes more of these, their endgame goal of 'resolution' comes closer and closer. This goal of 'Resolution' is regarded as the win condition. As the game's focus is on the narrative, players are more encouraged to explore problems and their solutions in order to explore more of the story.

Plaeyrs control a character in limbo similar to Murdered: Soul Suspect.

Overview

Death Sentence follows the specter of the end himself, the Grim Reaper, as he collects souls destined for the underworld. Much like a bounty hunter, the Grim Reaper is tasked with collecting those souls who have escaped the clutches of minor specters sent to collect them. Equipped with a wide variety of tools and his fearsome horse of the dead, the Grim Reaper stalks the realms of both the living and the dead in search of his targets.

Core Mechanics

The Grim Reaper is controlled in the first person, and players guide the Grim Reaper through a relatively open world in search of souls who are not where they should be. Equipped with his lantern of souls, the Reaper needs to 'collect' those he is hunting, and these souls in turn provide the Reaper with even more power. Acquiring abilities and upgrades for the Reaper affects his appearance - as the game goes on, the Reaper becomes darker and more malevolent. The collection of souls is a process that detracts from one's own soul, as the player learns. Players are assigned contracts that lesser soul collectors have been unable to complete, and the Reaper sometimes takes matters into his own hands to deal with these inefficient collectors.

Narrative

The player takes control of the reaper during a period of turmoil in the underworld - souls are mysteriously vanishing and reappearing where they shouldn't. The Grim Reaper is one that prides himself on his job more than anything, and takes these issues personally. The game frequently deals with philosophical issues surrounding death and the afterlife, but tackles them in a sometimes darkly humorous way. The player learns about the own motivations and backstory of the Reaper himself, and how the soul that is now the reaper became something else.

An image of Thresh, a warden of the dead who collects souls for his lantern.

The Grim Reaper is styled similarly to Thresh aesthetically.